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FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's largest TV, radio, and production company. Its world headquarters are located in London.

The company acquired various British and Australian production companies including Grundy Television, Crackerjack Productions (now merged to become FremantleMedia Australia), Thames Television and Talkback (the last two later merged as Talkback Thames). Early on it merged with Germany's largest television production company, UFA.

Production and rights holdings[link]

The company holds the rights to the Goodson/Todman game show library which includes such game shows as What's My Line?, The Price Is Right, Password, Now You See It, Match Game, I've Got a Secret and Family Feud, as well as non-Goodson shows such as Press Your Luck, Let's Make a Deal, and the Reg Grundy library, which includes Time Machine, Sale of the Century, Scrabble, Scattergories, Small Talk and Bruce Forsyth's Hot Streak. Fremantle also produced Temptation and an interactive gameshow Quizmania for ITV Play.

In addition, they also own (along with Columbia Pictures) the rights to most of the post 1948 Bob Hope film catalog that includes The Seven Little Foys, The Lemon Drop Kid, and Son of Paleface. They were also the distributors of the television series Baywatch, and hold the rights to the Grundy Television Library such series like Wheel Of Fortune (not the U.S. version or any version produced since Columbia's acquisition of Merv Griffin Enterprises, since Sony now holds the rights to the show domestically and worldwide) and Neighbours, including game shows from its U.S. counterpart, Reg Grundy Productions.

In-house productions include Pop Idol and its related spin-offs (including American Idol), and three carryover productions from Mark Goodson Productions: the current versions of The Price Is Right and Family Feud, and the 2002 revival of Beat the Clock (for Pax TV). Currently, they hold rights (under license from Fuji Television) to the game Brain Wall, more commonly known as Hole in the Wall in over 20 countries.

FremantleMedia has also licensed rights to international formats including The Apprentice (with creator Mark Burnett for BBC One), The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency (on Oxygen in the United States), the Simon Cowell-produced series The X Factor (in the UK), and America's Got Talent for NBC, the long running Australian serials Neighbours and Prisoner, Distraction (on Comedy Central), and Gameshow Marathon (on CBS). In other countries they own the franchise rights to Betty La Fea in Germany (Verliebt In Berlin), Spain (Yo Soy Bea), the Netherlands (Lotte), Sara in Belgium and Maria I Asximi in Greece.

FremantleMedia's library also includes the 2001 CBS telefilm The Christmas Shoes (inspired by the NewSong #1 hit), and its 2005 sequel, The Christmas Blessing. (The song is the property of Bertelsmann AG, which is the majority owner in RTL group.)

The company also owns the back catalog of the American TV production company Reeves Entertainment, which was acquired by Thames in 1990. Additionally, FremantleMedia bought the rights to all former programming of the now defunct UK broadcasting strand Thames Television from Pearson International in 2002, meaning they also hold rights to a variety of shows from the Thames archives including popular children's shows from the 1970s and 1980s such as the long running The Sooty Show and Rainbow.

FremantleMedia currently leases the rights to Match Game, all versions of Family Feud except for the Louie Anderson run, and the various incarnations of Password to GSN. FremantleMedia previously leased the entire Goodson-Todman library (with The Price is Right and the 1994 season of Feud on separate contracts) and Press Your Luck to GSN until March 31, 2009.

FremantleMedia bought a controlling share of Canadian video game development company Ludia in October 2010.^[1]

Company structure[link]

FremantleMedia is divided into two major divisions: Creative Networks, which comprises and co-ordinates local production operations, and FremantleMedia Enterprises, which handles distribution and licensing.

Creative Networks comprises three departments: Worldwide Entertainment, Worldwide Drama and FMX. This network provides local production teams access to ideas, expertise and trends from around the world.

Worldwide Entertainment supports existing shows including Idols, The X Factor, and The Price Is Right and Family Feud, and new additions such as Thank God You're Here, America's Got Talent, Hole in the Wall and PokerFace.

Worldwide Drama supports serial drama production in 12 territories, including long-running dramas The Bill (ITV1, UK), Neighbours (Network Ten, Australia), Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten (Good Times, Bad Times - RTL Television, Germany), Salatut elämät (Secret Lives - MTV3, Finland), Un Posto al Sole (A Place in the Sun - Rai Uno, Italy) and Barátok Közt (Between Friends - RTL Klub, Hungary).

Creative Networks' latest addition is FMX, a new division intended to reach new audiences by creating non-linear new media experiences. Its productions include Freak, PrintFriends, UrFantastic and Project V.

FremantleMedia Enterprises is the commercial arm of the company responsible for exploiting and developing FremantleMedia's properties off-screen in areas such as merchandising, the Internet, interactive television and wireless. It also focuses on more traditional ancillary rights businesses such as licensing, home entertainment and music publishing. It is the parent arm of the syndicated online short-form comedy video channel, Atomic Wedgie.

FremantleMedia North America (FMNA) is FremantleMedia’s U.S. production & distribution division. Based in Burbank, California, FMNA produces programmes for broadcast and cable networks, syndication, and digital (online & mobile) platforms.

In addition, FremantleMedia owns several other smaller production companies; among these are Thom Beers' Original Productions (responsible for creation and production of numerous reality shows such as Deadliest Catch, Ax Men, and Ice Road Truckers) and Amygdala Music, Leslie Beers' production and composition firm that writes themes, incidental, and featured music for Original Productions shows.

List of FremantleMedia Productions[link]

• America's Got Talent
• China's Got Talent
• Indonesia's Got Talent
• Pilipinas Got Talent
• Czechia & Slovakia Got Talent (2010)
• Czech&Slovak Idol
• American Idol (2002–present) 19 Entertainment Fox
• American Juniors (2003) 19 Entertainment Fox
• Australian Idol
• Indonesian Idol
• Birds of a Feather
• Goodnight Sweetheart
• Baywatch
• Truckers
• Hole in the Wall
• (fr) Questions pour un champion
• The Price is Right
• Let's Make a Deal
• Family Feud
• Super Family Indonesia
• MySpace Road Tour
• Learn With Sooty
• The Sooty Show
• The BFG
• Rainbow
• A Tale Of Two Toads
• The Wind In The Willows
• A Nero Wolfe Mystery (co-producer with the A&E network for airings outside North America)
• Oh! Mr Toad!
• KylieX2008
• Neighbours
• Button Moon
• Victor and Hugo
• T-Bag
• Mr. Bean
• Count Duckula
• DangerMouse
• Tree Fu Tom
• The Bill
• "The Wedding Band"
• Prisoner (Prisoner Cell Block H)
• Weakest Link (Greece) (mega TV)
• Sons and Daughters
• Creepy Crawlies
• Osbournes: Reloaded
• Salatut Elämät
• Secret Girlfriend
• The X Factor
• The Biggest Loser
• House of Jazmin
• Monsuno
• My Babysitter's a Vampire
• The Aquabats! Super Show!
• India's Got Talent
• Indian Idol

References[link]

External links[link]

• FremantleMedia's website
• FremantleMedia Australia's website
• Fremantle International Distribution
• Project V - FMX
• The MySpace Road Tour - FremantleMedia
• Atomic Wedgie - Online Short-Form Comedy Videos

Alfre Woodard
at a Barack Obama rally at the Democratic National Convention, 2008-08-28
Born	Alfre Ette Woodard (1952-11-08) November 8, 1952 (age 59) Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
Occupation	Actress, Producer
Years active	1978–present
Spouse	Roderick Spencer (1983–present)

Alfre Ette Woodard (born November 8, 1952) is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Awards, 17 times for Emmy Awards (winning four), and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.

She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss Firecracker, Grand Canyon, Passion Fish, Primal Fear, Star Trek: First Contact, Miss Evers' Boys, K-PAX, Radio, Take the Lead and The Family That Preys.

Early life[link]

Woodard was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Constance, a homemaker, and Marion H. Woodard, an entrepreneur and interior designer.^[1] Woodard attended Bishop Kelley High School, a private Catholic school in Tulsa. She studied drama at Boston University, from which she graduated.

Career[link]

Woodard has made numerous appearances in television series and motion pictures. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1983 film Cross Creek. In 1993 she starred in the film Passion Fish for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. She also appeared in the films Heart and Souls, Crooklyn, How to Make an American Quilt, Primal Fear, in Down in the Delta as a single alcoholic mother from Chicago forced to spend a summer with her uncle in Mississippi, and as Lily Sloane, Zefram Cochrane's assistant in Star Trek: First Contact.

In 1997 she starred in the HBO film Miss Evers' Boys, for which she won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a CableACE Award, an NAACP Image Award and a Satellite Awards.

Alfre Woodard speaks for the Barack Obama campaign in New Philadelphia, Ohio, on 2008-02-20.

Woodard's television credits include Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, Faerie Tale Theatre (in "Puss in Boots"), L.A. Law, and Homicide: Life on the Street. Woodard has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for her performances in the series Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and The Practice, as well as the television movie Miss Evers' Boys. Woodard has received Emmy nominations for Words by Heart, St. Elsewhere, Unnatural Causes, a second nomination for St. Elsewhere, A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story, The Piano Lesson, Gulliver's Travels, Homicide: Life on the Street, and The Water Is Wide.^[2]

In 2003, Woodard, took part in the HBO film Unchained Memories, a dramatization of WPA slave narratives. From 2005 to 2006, Woodard starred in the ABC series Desperate Housewives, and received another Emmy nomination for her role as Betty Applewhite. Woodard has appeared on stage in such plays as Map of the World, Drowning Crow, Me & Bessie, and The Winter's Tale. She starred in Tyler Perry's latest film The Family That Preys. In 2009, she appeared in American Violet, playing the mother of a 24-year-old African American woman wrongfully swept up in a drug raid.

In 2010, she was a guest star in the third season of the Vampire Television series True Blood as Ruby Jean Reynolds.^[3] and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2011 for her role.^[4][5]

She was most recently seen starring as Lt. Tanya Rice in TNT's original series Memphis Beat, for which she won Gracie Allen Awards for performance in a series. One critic said: "I originally tuned in for Jason Lee, who plays a police detective named Dwight who likes to croon the blues. But I was won over by Alfre Woodard, who plays Dwight’s by-the-book boss."^[6]

Personal life[link]

Woodard lives in Santa Monica, California, with her husband, writer Roderick Spencer, and their two children, Mavis and Duncan. Woodard follows Christian Science.^[7] She is a founder and board member of Artists for a New South Africa and is also active in the Democratic Party. In February 2009, she joined a group of American film directors and actors on a cultural trip to Iran at the invitation of the "House of Cinema" forum in Tehran.^[8] Her daughter, Mavis, served as Miss Golden Globe for the 2010 Golden Globe Awards.

Awards and nominations[link]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alfre Woodard

• Alfre Woodard at the Internet Movie Database
• Alfre Woodard at the Internet Broadway Database
• Alfre Woodard at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Alfre Woodard at AllRovi
• Alfre Woodard at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

Vincent John "Vin" Di Bona^[1] (born 1944) is a television producer for many American television shows such as America's Funniest People, MacGyver and Entertainment Tonight as well as America's Funniest Home Videos. He runs an eponymous production company called Vin Di Bona Productions. In 2010 Di Bona launched a second shingle, FishBowl Worldwide Media, an independent production company developing properties for film, television, digital platforms and brands.

Vin Di Bona

Background[link]

A native of Cranston, Rhode Island^[2], Di Bona began his career in the entertainment industry as a singer, under the stage name Johnny Lindy (the last name was taken from the Cranston area restaurant owned by his parents that Di Bona worked at as a pre-teen); releasing two records by the age of 16, which became hits regionally. However Di Bona turned his aspirations to making film and television in 1962, following the major worldwide success of The Beatles, quoted in a 1990 interview as saying "Guys who sang romantic ballads were up a creek without a paddle. So I adapted."^[2]

Career Highlights[link]

He received an education at Emerson College in Boston, where he served as manager of WECB, the campus radio station.^[3] Di Bona met his first wife Gina, who serves as a production consultant on many of his series including America's Funniest Home Videos and with whom they have a daughter, Cara, while attending Emerson College.^[2] After graduating from Emerson in 1966 and earning up a master's degree of fine arts in film at UCLA, he worked for nine years at Boston's then-NBC affiliate WBZ-TV (channel 4; now a CBS-owned station). After he left WBZ-TV, Vin, his wife and daughter moved to Los Angeles, Di Bona did not find a job for about eight months, until he became employed at CBS directing and producing documentaries for the network, which earned him four Emmys and a Peabody Award.^[2]

Di Bona is considered one of the pioneers of reality TV, thanks to Battle of the Network Stars, which Di Bona produced in 1976.^[3] By the 1980s, Di Bona became a producer for the syndicated newsmagazine Entertainment Tonight and later served as a producer for one season on the ABC series MacGyver; he also was a director for the American Music Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards and produced taped segments for the 36th Annual Emmy Awards, among others.^[2]

Di Bona's first two television series creations were spawned from two Japanese programs, and at the insistence of his then-wife Gina: the ABC series Animal Crack-Ups, was based on a popular Japanese game show called Waku Waku; Gina watched a story featured on CBS News about the show, which aired on the Tokyo Broadcasting System, the story featured a frilled lizard, which made Gina laugh and at her insistence, Vin looked into developing a series based on Waku Waku. America's Funniest Home Videos was inspired by another Tokyo Broadcasting System series, the variety show Fun TV with Kato-chan and Ken-chan, after Vin and Gina attended a television festival in France and Gina walked past a booth showing Japanese home video clips, Gina found the clips in the program to be hilarious, asking her husband to look into developing a series based on the viewer-submitted home video segment.^[2]

The success of America's Funniest Home Videos,currently in its 22nd year and the longest-running primetime entertainment show on ABC, eventually led to two spinoffs, America's Funniest People and the short-lived World's Funniest Videos; along with similar home video shows Show Me The Funny for Fox Family Channel (now ABC Family) and the syndicated series That's Funny. Di Bona also produced several made-for-TV movies and a Showtime series Sherman Oaks. Vin Di Bona also served as chair for The Caucus for Television Producers, Writers and Directors. Vin Di Bona received the 2,346th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, August 23, 2007. In 2009, objects from "America's Funniest Videos" were accepted into the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The Museum put the camcorder used to shoot the first winning video in 1989 on display. In 2006 Di Bona married Erica Gerard.

Controversy[link]

In 1992, Arleen Sorkin was fired from the television show, America's Funniest People by Di Bona. In response, Sorkin filed a lawsuit against Di Bona, claiming that she was dismissed from the show due to her race, after ABC Chairman Dan Burke had suggested to Di Bona that Sorkin be replaced by an African-American or a person of another ethnic minority. Sorkin sought $450,000 for lost earnings, and an additional unspecified amount for harm to her professional reputation and emotional injury. Sorkin additionally claimed that after she denounced the move as unfair, Di Bona changed plans and hired new cohost Tawny Kitaen, who is white.^[4]

In May 2011, Di Bona, a leading member of the Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors was censured for standing by his remarks that he accepts Hollywood's discrimination against conservatives, causing fellow member Lionel Chetwynd to publicly resign from the Caucus the following month. Di Bona made comments in relation to the publication Prime Time Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How The Left Took Over Your TV, that personally affected Chetwynd and eventually caused a falling out between the two.^[5]